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Matt Madden, Abandoned Yellow House in Nova Scotia

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I think people need to get used to the idea that most things happen by accident, including systems of oppression.

I've seen so many people talk about how certain types of discrimination exist specifically and deliberately to uphold capitalism or something, and most of the time they're just... things that happened. Bad habits we got into as a society, long before anyone alive today was born.

I really do think we need to stop saying "this behavior was designed to further systems of oppression," and start saying "this behavior does further systems of oppression, deliberately or not." It makes people more likely to listen to you, since you're not accusing them of being an evil oppressor who hurts people on purpose, and it makes you less likely to fall into conspiracy theories and us-vs-them thinking.

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yeah i dual-wield

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This a great breakdown on how to say what you mean without using harmful language!

An additional note because I sometimes see this coming from other disabled folks: even if you yourself are disabled, you can't "reclaim" a word by using it as an insult against someone else.

Reclaiming a slur means that it's a derogatory term that's been used against you and/or your community, and you say, "yeah, I am X, and so what? I'm proud of it!"

Maybe this is opening a whole other can of worms, but for example: queer has historically been used as a slur. But you know what, I am a bit odd, a tad strange, a bit of a fucking weirdo. I do not want to be part of the stifling norms that are expected of me by those who would use queer as a slur. Literally everything is made up, binaries aren't real, and there is no such thing as "normal". There is so much diversity in humankind and that's beautiful! How precious that we're not all the same!

So yeah, I'm queer as hell, and so what? I think that's liberating. I think it's creative and wonderful and resilient and I'm proud to be queer.

THAT is reclaiming a slur. It's taking power from the people who want to hurt you and using it to empower yourself. If you just start tossing the same slur around as an insult to other people (for example the r slur), that's not empowering yourself and your community, that's just spreading more hurt. :(

Hey, Jumblr? I'm gonna need all y'all to stop using ableist slurs against people you don't like. Immediately.

Yes, even if they're acting stupid. Even if they're actively antisemitic. They are not the only one you hurt by calling them ableist slurs (if you even hurt them at all, which is unlikely if they don't value your opinion). By engaging in this behavior, you also tell anyone with a disability that you can't be trusted. That if you decide you disagree with them, they could also be a target for ableist cruelty.

I am physically and mentally disabled, and I have already discovered that I can't trust about half of you to have my back. A lot like queer Jews have found that they will not be supported by other queer folks if they're too Jewish/the wrong kind of Jewish, I have found that I will not be supported by you if I'm too disabled/the wrong kind of disabled. It makes one of the only spaces that was safe for me as a queer Jew actively unsafe as a disabled person. I sincerely doubt I'm the only one with this experience.

Do better.

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The way my rabbi described it in her Intro to Judaism class, Jews pre-date the distinctions between religion, nation, race/ethnicity, etc. It really is kinda like a citizenship test; if you want to move somewhere new, you have to join the people and follow the laws of the land.

Hi, I have a question I'm afraid to ask without being hounded or called the"I'm just asking questions" guy because I truly am asking questions because I'm just a dumbass trying to understand.

I'm still trying to understand what all means as an enthno religion. I get it in concept but applying it and the nuance I find, I just get confused?

I understand ancestral lineage and historical/archeological history. I get confused when it comes to converts to Judaism and how that ties them to a "homeland" (sorry if that's not the right word) when it's something chosen?

I'm sorry if this is offensive in anyway or if I sound like an absolute idiot. I really am just trying to understand stuff. Complicated history stuff and it's hard to ask questions without being ridiculed as an idiot.

Of course dear! No worries about looking stupid, I know I call people idiots a lot but that's always about people who REFUSE to learn, not people who are willing but haven't yet or don't know how. I'll always answer good faith questions to the best of my ability, but keep in mind this is not my area of expertise, I just happen to be Jewish and interested in anthropology and history (and I do have some background in ancient history, but not Judean).

Now, the most philosophical argument I can give you is that converting to Judaism is not considered a choice. In Jewish teaching, Jewish converts have always had Jewish souls, regardless of what religion their body was raised with. This means that Jewish converts are not choosing to convert to a new religion, they are coming home to the community they were always meant to be in. However, I know that's something that gets goyim tripped up, so I'll try to explain it in a more modern secular manner as well.

The most important thing you have to understand is that ethnicity is not the same as race and genetic ancestry is not a requirement for a group to count as an ethnicity. A group of people may count as an ethnicity if they have some combination of shared ancestry, nationality, religion, culture, or language. Jews check off most of those boxes - Jews who CAN trace their lineage back to Judea are all, to some extent, genetically related and also come from the same nation 2,000 years ago. We all, obviously, share a religion, as well as the culture and language closely tied into it. For some of us, that's 5/5 of these broad categories.

The second thing you have to understand is that converting to Judaism is NOT the same as converting to Christianity or Islam - I am going to assume you are from a country in which Christianity is the majority religion, PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong. Christianity and Islam are both proselytizing religions. Part of their belief system is based on actively gaining new members of their group, and so becoming a member is relatively easy. In Christianity, there is a lot of emphasis on belief, repentance, and confession. There are ceremonies such as baptism to officially mark conversion or formally save the soul, but a lot of Christians will accept you as some level of christian simply for believing in Jesus as the son of god and praying to the christian god.

In stark contrast, Judaism is a closed religion - you cannot practice Jewish religion as a goy unless you are invited by a Jew to do so. consequently, converting to Judaism is not something one can just Decide to Do and then it is Done. It's a long, arduous process, taking AT LEAST a year to complete. You spend that year or several studying torah, talking to rabbis, entrenching yourself in Jewish culture, celebrating Jewish holidays.

You can say you believe in a Jewish god all you want, but other Jews will not recognize you as a member of the community unless you go through the full process - study and immersion; circumcision (for some but not others, obviously); judgement before a beit din (a court made up of three Jews, at least one of which must be a rabbi) who will ask questions about your motivation, test you on your knowledge, and make sure you're really, really certain this is what you want; and if you pass that test, the mikvah, or ritual bath; and the bestowing of a Hebrew name.

By the end of all that, even if a convert doesn't have that scientific genetic link to ancient Judeans, they are practicing the religion, living the culture, can usually speak the language, and are legally considered a "citizen" of sorts of the Jewish nation. - that's 4/5 of the different ways a group can be linked to be considered an ethnicity. And, because i know this gets confusing, when i say the Jewish nation in this context i am not talking about the modern state of Israel, I am talking about Am Yisrael, the people of Israel, the community of Jews as we see ourselves as a scattered "nation." Basically, if the kingdom of Judah still existed, you could almost consider this a citizenship test.

Another way to look at it is tied closely to the Hebrew name. In Hebrew/Judaism, full names are formatted as "chosen name, son/daughter of parent (and parent)" So, for example, my full Jewish name is Yonah bat Rachel - Yonah daughter of Rachel. Typically it would be your father's name (followed by your mother's in some spaces but not all), but my dad is not Jewish, so I would use my mom's. When converts pick a Jewish name, they don't put their goyische parent's names at the end, they put the original Jewish patriarch. If I had converted, even though I have a wonderful relationship with my parents and am proud to be their daughter, my Jewish name would not include either of their names because they would not be Jewish. Instead, I would go by Yonah bat Avraham - Yonah daughter of Abraham. In this way, you can view Jewish conversion as an adoption into the Jewish family. You wouldn't tell a kid who was adopted that his parents aren't really his parents, even though you both know he's not technically genetically related to them. Likewise, you would not tell a Jewish convert he's not really (ethnically) Jewish even though you both may be aware that he's not technically genetically related to ancient Jews. It is not blood that makes an adopted child a member of the family, and it is not blood that makes a convert a member of the Jewish ethnicity. Because again and most importantly,

shared ancestry is not always required for a group of people to be considered an ethnicity

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refusing to apply first aid to the wound because "it shouldn't have happened in the first place, so what we really should be doing is making sure no one gets stabbed ever again"

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The three kinds of bird species name

1. God’s Specialist Little Boy

2. Hot Breasted Milf

3. Grey Bird With Brown Head

4. Walter’s Fingernail

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too many catnip mice, too little time.

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I genuinely believe that a lot of the reason that the American left is so ineffectual and self-sabotaging is because of how deeply and unrepentantly calvinist it is.

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that’s a good one

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[Me, incessantly being a little freak]

My partner: You're such a beast.

Me:

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ecological problems of colonialism also have more to do with the exploitative nature of colonialism than with foreigners lacking an elf-like connection to the land imo

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People in the process of conversion to Judaism have a rough time with labels.

You’re not a goy. Maybe, you could say, in the strictest definition you are- as in not initiated in bet the Beit Din or immersed in the mikveh. But not in the social sense of being on the outside of the community, seperated from all Jewish practices until the official moment of “you’re a Jew now!” No one’s going to knock challah away from your hands because you’re cosplaying.

No. You show up to shabbats. You’re at the minyans. You’re in the community and say the brachats. You keep kosher. And maybe you’re discriminated against for being apart of this world.

You’re basically a resident, working on all the citizenship paperwork. There’s a lot to do and you feel constantly behind. But sooner or later, you find yourself living a completely Jewish life. Without the official check mark.

And when people in the community try to explain your presence, they wave their hands and nearly glitch. “Uhhhhh she’s Jewish- not Jewish, no! But working on it!”

I wouldn’t take this away for the world. It’s a long good road at the start of a lifelong journey.

But for my Jews to be? I see you in our awkward phase. Let’s take our time- we’re getting there.

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Hasidic man dances during Lag Ba'Omer in Safed, 1960

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Sacred fruit